There is nothing more infuriating when you come home from work after a long day to a hot apartment. No matter how low you are setting your thermostat, your apartment still isn’t getting cool.
More than likely your A/C could have a problem that has an easy fix, such as a dirty or clogged filter or vents that are not allowing proper airflow in the apartment.
I am going to take you through some of the common ways that your A/C unit can malfunction, and whether or not you should try to fix it yourself, or have a professional repairman or your maintenance guy come out and take a look at it.
My Apartment A/C Is Not Blowing Cold Air
As a landlord, I deal with air conditioner problems all the time. I literally have dozens of units that we have to deal with on a yearly basis just due to the vast quantity of apartments we manage.
OVERWHELMINGLY, there are two problems that persist in people’s apartments when they call the maintenance guy or the manager because their apartment is too hot.
The 1st reason is The air filter in the furnace/AC is dirty or clogged.
The 2nd reason is The coolant is low in the actual A/C unit outside.
Now, your problem may not fall into either of these two categories, but speaking from experience, there is a good chance that one of those two things are going to be the problem.
Let’s go over a few things that you can do in your apartment to see if the problem is easily rectifiable, or if you need to call someone more professional out to look at what’s keeping your apartment so hot.
How To Fix The Air Conditioner In My Apartment
There are a few things that you, as the tenant, can check yourself to rectify a problem if it falls into one of these categories.
The Thermostat – Sometimes, the thermostat goes bad and your maintenance guy just needs to bring one by and wire it up for you. If the unit has gone bad, more than likely, when you put the temperature way down, the unit outside won’t kick on and start pushing cold air.
Also, I literally have had a half dozen times or so where simply turning the thermostat off and letting it sit for 30 seconds and then turning it back on has gotten power to the system. I am not an HVAC guy, so I couldn’t really tell you why this works and what the problem is, ice buildup or some problem outside with the unit, but that is one of the simpler fixes that I have had and the first thing I do when I walk into a hot apartment.
Dirty Filter – Simply changing out the filer in your A/C has saved SO many service trips out from the heating and cooling guys it’s ridiculous. When the filter get’s dirty, which only needs to take a few months to happen, the air flow decreases markedly in the system.
This can lead to everything from a hot apartment to ice building up on your coils which can cause other problems, but the good news is that the problem is VERY easy to fix.
All you need to do is call your manager or maintenance guy and they will bring a new filter around for you at no cost. As I have written about in “Why Is My Apartment So Hot?”, landlords want to keep your furnace and air conditioner running as smoothly and effectively as possible so they last as long as they can. They will always bring you a filter for free, and if you ask nice, they will be more than happy to install it for you as well!
Ice In Your A/C – If you are getting ice in your unit, that probably means that your airflow is bad inside the system, or you have low coolant. Either problem can cause the issue of ice buildup.
What you need to do is exactly what you would do for a freezer with the same issue… Just run the unit for a while with just the fan on so the ice can melt.
If you have done this and the unit STILL isn’t blowing cold air, more than likely you need some more coolant to be added to your system.
These are the few reasons that your air conditioner isn’t blowing cold air that you as the tenant are probably equipped to diagnose, or even fix yourself. But there are going to be times when nothing you do seems to work and you need to call someone in. Let’s go over that list below.
Reasons To Let A Professional Fix Your A/C
There are reasons why professionals are called professionals. It’s because, well, they are professionals. They know what they are doing, and can likely diagnose and fix your problem in a reasonably short period of time because they see the same problems over and over on a daily basis and are trained and equipped to fix whatever is ailing the system.
Here are some of the issues that only a professional should work on, and why they can be a problem with keeping your apartment cool when it’s hot.
Low Coolant – Over time, the coolant from your air conditioner can leak. Usually, leaks that happen over time are very slow, but sometimes, for reasons that I really don’t understand but a heating and cooling guy could explain to you, a hole develops in the condenser and coolant slowly starts to leak out of the system.
The only way this can be fixed is to have a heating and cooling company come out, do a test on the system, which tests for coolant pressure, and then add as much coolant is needed.
Speaking as a landlord, whenever I HAVE to get an air conditioning guy out, simply needing to add coolant to the system is what I am always hoping for because it is usually the easiest and cheapest fix to remedy.
Bad Compressor – A bad compressor is kind of like having a heart attack, nothing is moving in the body of the system, and things are going to go south in a hurry. Replacing a compressor is expensive, and usually the owner will simply replace your entire unit. But good news, you will have REALLY cold air once the new system is installed!
Bad Condenser Fan – This fan is what pushes the air into and out of the apartment. If the fan is broke it can no longer do it’s job. A technician is needed to repair or replace the fan.
Bad Air Ducts – This is a situation that I have only had happen once. Somehow the duct went bad and hot air was getting in an circulating in the apartment. An HVAC guy was needed to diagnose and find the issue before the problem could be resolved.
If you are having problems with your air conditioner that you JUST can’t seem to fix yourself, chances are that you may have to put a call in to your manager to have someone come out and take a look at it.
Rest assured though, all air conditioning problems can be fixed one way or another, even if it means getting a new unit installed for you.
Does My Landlord Have To Replace My Air Conditioner?
Depending on where you live would depend on whether or not your landlord needs to jump on this problem right away. If you are living in Calgary Alberta, more than likely replacing the unit is not going to be on the top of their list for things to get on right away.
Now, if you are living in Phoenix, Arizona, it is going to be dang near the law to have them fix it for you almost immediately because the apartment will literally become unlivable in the period of a few hours if something is not done about cooling the place off.
The Implied Warrant of Habitability would apply here, and in the hotter regions of the U.S., landlords are going to be required to fix air conditioner problems within a reasonable amount of time.
My apartments are in the Midwest, and if there is a serious issue, I get on it right away, but even then I am still at the mercy of the schedule of the air conditioning people. Usually, they are pretty good, but I can’t promise you won’t have a hot couple days or so until they get out there.
As long as management is staying in good communication with you about when the unit will be fixed or when the guys are coming out to look at it, your landlord is fulfilling their duty to you as a tenant.
Check out the article I wrote on Why Is My Apartment So Hot for ways that you can cool down your apartment.
